S.africa Olympic Rugby Team Coach Tests Positive
The coach of the South African men's rugby sevens team for the Tokyo Olympic Games has tested positive for the coronavirus.
The South African Rugby Union made an announcement on its official website. It said that Neil Powell tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday. Powell and his team were in the southern Japanese city of Kagoshima for a pre-Olympics training camp.
The union said Powell will be admitted to a quarantine facility for the next two weeks. It also said that he will remotely coach the team during the matches that are scheduled to be held in Tokyo from July 26 to 28.
Assistant coach Renfred Dazel will take over Powell's role at the venue. He said, "We came to Japan well-prepared, with the hard work done at home, so this is just a small distraction in that bigger picture."
Kagoshima City officials say they will investigate whether Powell had close contact with members of his team.
The entire squad had to be placed in quarantine in the greater Tokyo area, when it arrived in Japan, because someone on the flight had tested positive for the virus.
Twenty members of the team traveled from Tokyo to Kagoshima City, after it was determined that they had not been in close contact with the infected person.
But after they left Tokyo's Haneda Airport, it turned out that one member had tested positive.
Kagoshima City officials conducted an additional test and confirmed that the person was indeed infected.